Ketlen Vieira set to return vs. Irene Aldana at UFC 245

Ketlen Vieira is back, and she will take on a rising contender.

Vieira will fight Irene Aldana at UFC 245, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to MMA Junkie following an intial report from Mexico’s Milenio.

UFC 245 takes place Dec. 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN 2 and UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.

Undefeated Vieira (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) hasn’t competed since her split decision win over Cat Zingano in March 2018. She was scheduled to face Tonya Evinger at UFC Fight Night 137 later that year before she was forced out due to a knee injury. UFC 245 will mark a 21-month absence for the top bantamweight contender, who’s on the cusp of title contention.

Aldana (11-5 MMA, 4-3 UFC) bounced back from a razor thin decision loss to Raquel Pennington in July with a unanimous decision win over Vanessa Melo at UFC on ESPN+ 17 last month in her home country of Mexico. UFC 245 will mark her fourth fight of 2019, as she looks to spoil Vieira’s perfect record and emerge as a 135-pound title contender.

With the addition, UFC 245 now includes:

Champ Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington – for welterweight title
Champ Amanda Nunes vs. Germaine de Randamie – for women’s bantamweight title
Champ Max Holloway vs. Alexander Volkanovski – for featherweight title
Robbie Lawler vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
Jessica Eye vs. Viviane Araujo
Matt Brown vs. Ben Saunders
Oskar Piechota vs. Punahele Soriano
Kai Kara-France vs. Brandon Moreno
Irene Aldana vs. Ketlen Vieira